The Culper Ring: General Washington's Citizen Spies

The culper spy ring

george washington's citizen spies

It is the height of the Revolutionary War; the British are occupying New York City, the largest and most important of the colonial ports. The Continental Army is slowly losing ground to the Redcoats. Men and women loyal to the British, loyalists, across the newly proclaimed United States continue to stifle our efforts to beat back the British. General Washington is outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, and outplanned. In an effort to turn the tide of the war, the General has devised a new strategy to gain some sort of advantage over the British. You will be an essential part of this new strategy.

Join us on an adventure filled with intrigue, deception, and scheming as we become the first ever official ring of citizen-spies. Whether you are a merchant, soldier, or scholar, lend us your eyes, ears, and expertise as we battle the British in the shadows. Information will be the key to winning this war, and you are not the only one in search of it. The British are a worthy opponent; if we hope to carve out a world for our children that is better and freer than our own, we must do everything that it takes to win this war.

zach stepp

Chair

Zach is originally from Cleveland, Ohio and although that’s pretty embarrassing, he never shuts up about it. Despite his city’s 50-year title draught, Zach still thinks this year will be different. A third year, Zach is majoring in Political Science. On campus, Zach is very involved with the Institute of Politics (this summer he will be traveling to Havana, Cuba with the IOP!), teaches high school chemistry in Chicago Public Schools, is a brother of Sigma Chi, and works as a tour guide for the Admissions Office. Zach competes on the UChicago Model UN Team, has been a moderator for MUNUC, and chaired Dawn of the Vikings at ChoMUN XIX. Zach is ecstatic to be chairing The Culper Ring and is excited to see what creative plans delegates come up with to defeat the British.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact him at zstepp@uchicago.edu.

sylvia cheever

Crisis Director

Sylvia is a third year majoring in Anthropology and minoring in Biology. With neither a political science, nor a global/international studies based course of study, she frequently wonders how she ended up here in the first place, but she is super excited to be working with her co-execs as a first-time CD to run the best committee possible for ChoMUN XX. A born-and-bred New Yorker, this Brooklynite still asserts that deep dish is NOT real pizza. In her free time, Sylvia is incredibly involved in promoting wellness on campus, both as a Peer Health Advocate and as coordinator of the volunteer wellness representative program in the dorms. She also teaches sex education in Chicago Public Schools, sings in an a cappella group, and hikes through her summers. She hopes to go to graduate school one day for zooarchaeology or bioarchaeology, working to identify and analyze ancient animal or human remains. As far as MUN goes, Sylvia participated in ChoMUN XIX last year where she staffed Dawn of the Vikings. A self-proclaimed history nerd, she has spent a lot of time learning about the history of intelligence collection in the U.S. and cannot wait to see how her committee approaches the daunting task of designing an organized and successful intelligence operation!

If you have any questions, feel free to email her at scheever@uchicago.edu.

izzy jorgensen

CRISIS DIRECTOR

Izzy, who is originally from Brunswick, Maine, is a third year in the College, majoring in Public Policy. In addition to crisis directing for ChoMUN XX, Izzy serves as the Chief Administrative Officer for MUNUC, UChicago's high school conference, teaches math to 8th graders on Chicago's South Side, is a member of UChicago's Women in Public Service Program, and is a sister of Alpha Omicron Pi. For ChoMUN XIX, Izzy staffed the Viking committee with Zach and Sylvia and she is very excited to work with them this year to bring the Culper Ring to life.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email her at ijorgensen@uchicago.edu.